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I'm guessing these "escaped" salmon were being raised for restaurants.

Wegman's sells frozen farm raised Atlantic Salmon for, like, $15.99 for a 2 lb bag. If you are paying less than about 15.00 per lb for any salmon, it is likely farm raised. Wild Caught coho was over 20.00 per lb at Palmer's in Henrietta last year. Caveat: We're talking west coast wild caught fish from the ocean, not Genesee River falls mudshark sold on Fulton Street in NYC!

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Follow Alexandra Morton on Facebook. She is an advocate for wild salmon in BC Canada. There is a huge push to rid the West Coast of salmon farms due to the harm they are doing to wild salmon stocks. Pretty interesting stuff. It is sad to see the Canadian Government choose greed over wild salmon.

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List of introduced species to north america off the top of my head: honey bees, dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, horses. I wonder how many advocating for the removal of pacific salmon from the great lakes own a dog or cat. Pure stupidity in my opinion to advocate against such a successful program in the great lakes that brings joy to thousings and bring in millions to the local economy.

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I don't belei9ve I read anything about "advocating for removing Pacific Salmon from the Great Lakes" here, this post was about escape of Atlantic Salmon from fish farms on the west coast. I know they are a little worried about similar impacts down on the Gaspe Peninsula from Cohos that leave LO and then run up Atlantic Salmon streams, but other than that, I have heard nothing about actually stopping the Pacific Salmon program, although there are biologists and others who feel the negatives of the introduction should be considered, and think Native species restoration is the ultimate end of all this.

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I believe that their chief worry right now is the possibility of heavily hybridized Atlantic farm fish reproducing with pacific wild stock. Even though chances are small, this would very much weaken the wild stock. That is because farm stock is bred to grow fast and fat on as little food as possible and wild stock is lean ,mean and capable of overcoming incredible hardships in order to reach their spawning beds.

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They are different genus. I don't find anything in the literature about hybridization between the two species, But if the Salmo Salar become established as " wild stock" they could compete with the native Onchorynchus for food and habitat, in the same way that the non native Onchorynchus could compete with the native slamo salar in the Gaspe streams.

From the State of Washington website:

Fish management issues of escaped Atlantic salmon

Existing biological data strongly suggests that escaped Atlantic salmon do not pose significant risk to native fish populations, based on research outlined in a 1999 report. Among the concerns addressed in that report:

Competition: Evidence indicates non-native salmon species do not compete well against native species. Only a small percentage of Atlantic salmon recovered from marine waters have preyed on fish; there have been no observations of Atlantic salmon eating fish or fish eggs in fresh water.

Predation: There is no evidence of predation by Atlantic salmon in fresh water, and only limited evidence in salt water. Most recovered Atlantic salmon have had empty stomachs.

Disease transfer: Consideration was given to the transfer of fish pathogens from captive and escaped Atlantic salmon to native salmon stocks. There is no evidence indicating disease transfer from Atlantic salmon to native Pacific salmon. Fish pathogens infecting Atlantic salmon are endemic to Washington and appear to come from native fish stocks.

Hybridization: The risk of escaped Atlantic salmon hybridizing with Pacific salmon is low. Research has demonstrated it is very difficult, even under optimal laboratory conditions, to cross-breed Pacific and Atlantic salmon and produce viable offspring. Should this rare event occur in the wild, the offspring would be functionally sterile and incapable of reproducing.

Colonization: Evidence suggests this is unlikely. Attempts to establish Atlantic salmon outside the Atlantic Ocean have failed, and accidental releases of juvenile Atlantic salmon have not produced adults. Evidence on Vancouver Island indicates escaped Atlantic salmon have been able to produce juvenile Atlantic salmon, but there is no evidence that these "wild" Atlantic salmon have returned to their natal stream and successfully spawned.

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It is true that they are a different genus but the farmed atlantic salmon has been genetically altered and chinook genes have been added in order to take advantage of the very fast growth rate that chinook has. Hence the worry about possible cross breeding. A lot of genetic altering has happened since 1999

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Organic is a term to raise the price. Farm raised fish are fed processed baitfish and other cheap nutrients to grow them larger quicker in a confined space. Free ranged fish are similar wild sea raised that have to compete with wild predators to survive and ensure the survival of the fittest.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

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The farm raised fish also have all sorts of diseases related to their crappy diet and close quarters containment. The truly wild salmon have a much different diet and the healthy Omega content comes through the food chain from the Krill and other naturally occuring organisms which the farm raised variety don't get. The farm raised are also give various antibiotics because of the disease prevalence.